Yahoo! fixes! password! leak! vulnerability!

Yahoo! has fixed the flaw that allowed hackers to scrape the unencrypted passwords of over 450,000 of its customers' accounts.

"We have taken swift action and have now fixed this vulnerability, deployed additional security measures for affected Yahoo! users, enhanced our underlying security controls and are in the process of notifying affected users," Yahoo! said in a statement. "In addition, we will continue to take significant measures to protect our users and their data."

The company said the information that was published by members of the hacking group D33Ds Company stemmed from users who had signed up with the Associated Content site before Yahoo! bought it 2010.

If these users try and log into their Yahoo! accounts now they will be asked a series of authentication questions before having to change their data, and Yahoo! is also suggesting other users get into the habit of changing their passwords regularly.

The D33Ds Company hackers claimed that they broke into the corporate database via a simple SQL injection attack, and Yahoo! says that hole is now fixed and additional security procedures have been implemented. One would hope that includes adding password encryption to avoid a similarly embarrassing situation in the future. ®